DEATH, INTRIGUE AND A "TOUCH OF EVIL"

A TOUCH OF EVIL
Well, we have spoken of Orson Wells acting; let’s get into his directing as well, while we’re about it. In fact, with A Touch Of Evil, I can go one better for you folks. Not only did he direct this film but he acted one of the leading parts no less. So there you go. If only I had another film of his close to hand, I could make it an Orson Wells week * sigh *… Anyway, moving on…
Now, this little gem of a film noir is the story of two policeman on two different sides of the border – in more senses than one. Vargas (Charlton Heston) is Mexican. He is in the Narcotics Bureau in Mexico and very well known for his tough stance on gangs. He has made many enemies among these gangs too, but this doesn’t stop him honeymooning in a small border town with his young and beautiful wife ( Janet Leigh). On the other side of the border, there is Quinlan. (Orson Wells). In charge of the border territory, Quinlan has a great reputation as one of the finest and most upstanding policemen that side of the border. But when Vargas witnesses a crime on the border and gets better acquainted with Quinlan’s methods of dealing with things, he begins to have his suspicions and decides to investigate the matter a bit further. However, finding proof and exposing this “veteran” policeman is no easy task. Vargas is out of his jurisdiction and Quinlan has a lot of friends in both high and low places…
There is a short “acknowledgement” at the beginning of the DVD I own. It appears that after Wells finished the film and handed it over to the studio, the studio decided the film needed “clarification”. So they set to work, cutting out certain bits, re-shooting and adding scenes. Re-making the film “in their own vision” as it were. Wells, quite rightly, was incensed by this and wrote the studio a 58 page memo detailing what they had to “change back”. The studio conceded to some things but still released the film with 30 minutes cut. The edition I have is “re-mastered”, attempting to create the film in the way Orson Wells envisioned it. I don’t know if this is the prominent version on the market now or if, in fact, there are two versions knocking around but if there are two, try and get the Orson Wells version. The film is a masterpiece in itself and if this was the version the studio wanted to “alter” I would like to know what they were drinking at the time. It’s like “jazzing up” the Mona Lisa. Well, maybe not quite, but similar spirit of things, anyway…
And as for the film, well… The level of tension spikes from the start and stays up all through the film right to the end. Wells, who put on a good deal of weight in his later years (a shame considering his dapper look in Citizen Kane) is brilliant as the overbearing Quinlan, who we often see in close-up low angle shots, making him look larger and more foreboding than any nightmare the imagination could conjure up. One needs a “bad guy” like that for our dashing good guy Vargas (Charlton Heston – who I had never actually seen in a movie before) to come up against. The problem is, this isn’t actually a classic Hollywood flick but an Orson Wells film noir so you can never be sure how it will end… And of course, with Wells’s clever play on sharp contrasts – sharper still because the film is in black and white – and the haunting score by Henry Mancini makes for anything but a “comfortable evening” when you watch this one, and yet time will fly, I promise you.
A little surprise is that we get to see both Zsa Zsa Gabor and Marlene Dietrich in small parts in the film (thanks to Wells’s wide connections of course). If you ever wanted a dark but star-studded film, well… It doesn’t get better than this…